San Francisco | BoxSpeaker Music Blog

BoxSpeaker Picks: SF and Oakland Shows – 9/28

Here’s a quick rundown of concerts and events Bay Area readers should check out tonight:

San Francisco:

Cold Fronts, The Jaded, The Wearies, and Flaggs at Neck of the Woods

“Strange Architecture” is a BoxSpeaker favorite because of its lo-fi garage rock feel.

AM & Shawn Lee, Monophonics, and DJ BCause at the Independent

AM & Shawn Lee hail from Echo Park and bring a 60s/70s French Library feel mixed with some disco riffs.

Menomena and Helio Sequence at the Great American Music Hall

Helio Sequence and Menomena are high school BoxSpeaker favorites, especially Helio Sequence. Bringing together beachy Fender Telecaster guitar sounds and a relaxed but still dancey drum beat, songs like “Keep Your Eyes Ahead” really epitomized high school romance.

OAKLAND:

Station to Station

Station to Station is a multimedia art public art project. With music from bands and musicians such as Dan Deacon, No Age, and Twin Shadow, and sculptures, films, and prints from dozens artists, this roving mini festival is sure to appeal to all senses and art preferences.

Kitten Announces Upcoming Tour with Charli XCX and Little Daylight

Today, Kitten announced their upcoming tour supporting Charli XCX with Little Daylight.

Check out the dates for this BoxSpeaker Favorite triple-threat tour below:

AUGUST:
30 Vancouver, BC Venue Nightclub*
31 Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge*

SEPTEMBER:
1 Seattle, WA Bumbershoot Festival – Fisher Green
3 San Francisco, CA Slim’s***
5 Los Angeles, CA El Rey Theatre***
6 San Diego, CA House of Blues***
7 Las Vegas, NV Vinyl – Hard Rock Hotel & Casino***
9 Salt Lake City, UT In The Venue*
10 Denver, CO Bluebird Theater
12 Minneapolis, MN Triple Rock Social Club*
13 Chicago, IL Lincoln Hall
14 Meadow, MI Meadow Brook Music Festival
16 Toronto, ON The Hoxton***
17 Montreal, QC La Sala Rossa***
18 Cambridge, MA The Sinclair***
20 Asbury Park – Wonder Bar**
21 New York, NY – Gramercy Theatre***
23 Columbus, OH The A&R Music Bar*
24 Nashville, TN Mercy Lounge*
25 Atlanta, GA Vinyl*
27 Houston, TX Fitzgerald’s
28 Austin, TX The Parish*
29 Dallas, TX Club Dada*

OCTOBER:
2 Orlando, FL The Social –

Follow Kitten on Facebook for more updates and check out their music on SoundCloud and their official site.

CHVRCHES Releases North American Tour Dates Part 2

This morning electropop indiecuties CHVRCHES released their dates for their second North American Tour! Tickets go on sale this Friday!

North American Tour – May/June 2013

5/27 — George, WA — Sasquatch Music Festival
5/28 — Portland, OR — Wonder Ballroom
5/29 — San Francisco, CA — Rickshaw Stop
6/1 — Los Angeles, CA — Troubadour
6/2 — Solana Beach, CA — Belly Up Tavern
6/5 — Austin, TX — The Mohawk
6/6 — Dallas, TX — Granada Theater
6/7 — Lawrence, KS — The Granada Theatre
6/8 — Minneapolis, MN — Fine Line Music Cafe
6/10 — Chicago, IL — Lincoln Hall
6/12 — Toronto, ON — The Hoxton
6/15 — Montreal, QC — Le National
6/16 — Boston, MA — Paradise
6/17 — New York, NY — Webster Hall
6/21 — Washington, DC — Black Cat
6/22 — Dover, DE — Firefly Music Festival
6/23 — Philadelphia, PA — Union Transfer

[SF:] Breakdown Valentine

If CHVRCHES, Blondie, and The Sounds had a threesome band baby, it would be San Francisco’s Breakdown Valentine.

This electropop / electro rock duo brings dark wave influences to dream pop and adds in sultry vocals.

“Lullaby” has more of a Blondie and The Sounds 80s feel while “There Will Be Blood” sounds like a slowed down CHVRCHES track with an American accent.

If you’re in San Francisco, check them out tonight at PopScene at the Rickshaw Stop!

“Lullaby”

“There Will Be Blood”

Not gonna lie – I love this track because of its CHVRCHES synths and because There Will Be Blood is one of my favorite movies.

“Midnight City” Acoustic Audience Sing-Along with The Knocks

Last night, The Knocks had some technical difficulties in the middle of their set last night during PopScene at the Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco. While the audience waited, Mr. JPatt (half of the Knocks) played an acoustic version of their cover of M83’s “Midnight City.” He said that since Mandy Lee (the singer in their cover) wasn’t with them, the audience would have to sing.

No one knew the words, but everyone knew the boops.

A couple people behind my friend and me were convinced the first line was “waiting in a car.”

Koalacaust in an SF Art Place’s Basement

I can’t believe I completely forgot about the time I saw Koalacaust in a basement show.

I was hanging out with a friend of mine, and she suggested checking out this show in some art gallery / art space in the SOMA neighborhood of San Francisco.

I wish I could remember the name of the space. There was an art installation of various old televisions playing videos captured in various street corners and along different sidewalks. No (noticeable) direction – just capturing (supposedly) exactly what was passing by and going on in front of the cameras wherever they were set up.

Then up a flight of stairs was a basement area with a small bathroom and an even tinier window through which people took turns smoking.

Down in the basement was where the concert was. It was really fun, and the singer from Koalacaust got in the crowd, used the whole space as his stage, and even hung from the rafters! I forgot all about this until I found some photos from old computer folders I haven’t looked at in literally over a year!

Here’s one of my favorites. Seeing this photo made it all come back to me. Even just taking this shot was fun!

Oh yeah, and they’re originally from Santa Monica – much LA love to them. 🙂

The Night I Met Kitten

Little college-aged me met Kitten at their Bottom of the Hill show in San Francisco in April 2010. I was so excited because I fell in love with the first incarnation of their song “Kill the Light” when my friend Sharon recommended them that March. I then had the “difficult” choice of staying in all night working on a paper for Media Studies 10 or going to the concert and then pulling an all-nighter to finish my paper.

I’ll never regret my choice of putting my paper off to go to the show. (Sorry Professor Levina!) Kitten was opening for a band (forgot which one 🙁 ). Very intimate setting.

Bottom of the Hill is a 21+ venue, and I wasn’t 21 yet. However, that was the ONLY Bay Area show Kitten was playing. So I came to the venue early with a Sharpie and practically pleaded my case to the bartender and venue owner. I said that I’m a huge fan and that this was Kitten’s only Bay Area show in their tour and can you PLEASEEEEE let me see the show and I’ll even put big, huge Xes on my hands with my own Sharpie. And…

THEY LET ME!!! They just said that I couldn’t hang around the venue until the show started and that they better not catch me with any alcohol. I went to this pub-style restaurant down the street and ate some fish and chips. Then a bit before the show, I got bored, so I just stood around outside the venue waiting in what would be the line area. I saw these kids around my age hanging out near a van. I thought at first that maybe they were there for the show, too. Then I thought “van… WAIT! WHAT IF THEY’RE IN A BAND.. WHAT IF THEY’RE KITTEN?”

I thought “Fuck it” and walked up to them and asked “Hey! Are you guys.. in a band?” They said “yeah! We’re Kitten.” And my jaw practically dropped. I told them all about how excited I was to go to their show and how even more excited I was to actually get to meet them! Chloe said she liked my outfit, and I felt like the coolest person ever. They let me hang out in their tour van with them and let me take pictures and showed me their XBOX set up in the back! We hung out for a bit more before the show. It was so cool!

That was seriously the coolest moment ever for this little music blogger!

Right before performing “Kill the Light,” Chloe gave me a shout out because I told her it’s my favorite!

After the show, I got to take this awesome photo with all of them outside the venue. We tried doing this thing where we all jumped as the picture was taken. That didn’t work out that great in terms of jumping, but the photo turned out pretty awesome. I don’t think I’ve looked happier in a photo.

Anyway, with that little reminiscence chronicled, I’d like to move forward to today and to the future.

Today – I want to remind you that Kitten has released two songs from their upcoming “Cut It Out” EP! You can check them out on the Kitten band site.

Future – They’re coming back to Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco on June 13!! Buy your tickets here! LA friends, be sure to catch them on June 25 at the Bootleg Theater for free!

Finally, you can check out more awesome photos from when I met Kitten here!

I <3 Kitten!

Song of the Day: “A Darkness Rises Up” by Broken Records

Today’s Song of the Day is “A Darkness Rises Up” by the Scottish (although their lead singer made it a point to mention that he’s actually Irish) band Broken Records.

They performed at the Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco this past February or March.